Kai Koa~
Father Damien from Molokai - aka Saint Damian of Molokai.
Don't know him, read up. We made our tour guide take us to all the Hawaii stuff.

King Kamehameha the Great!
Read my blog for the (of course) supernatural tale that follows ANYTHING from the Islands around…and this statue is no exception~!

We just got back from Washington DC - high points were the stuff that had to do with Hawaii - after a while you really do become very attached to the islands…or you don't. I am so in love with Hawaii now I could never imagine living anywhere else - it's super charging my creative urges….
Wow… I'm kinda smiling, but I also feel kinda worried that everything works out OK - I and I know Abbas both went through some major adjustment times… we took jobs that were not really glamorous to make ends meet, but things, finally took of. Then, of course, a big company creepy mainland company steels my art and refuses to settle to our very generous "live aloha offer" - they wanna be a-holes…so what-evers….NOW they seem bent only on our destruction because they can do it with their seemingly endless $.

So..I'm so happy you are here as my friend - and Uncle Bob was so right! I could never move back to the big dirty trash covered Rat Race….but.. hope things go smoother for you than us…I don't always put up the insane crazy things that happen….I don't wanna bum every one out…would rather make fun it all…if you don't laugh at it all, (you may cry)… because screw it - we're in HAWAII…. 99 % of the world get here once of at all, and never come back. We're LIVIN' here!

Anice deep breath and watching the sunset really does make most things seem better….Welcome to Paradise… hey, there's good and bad everywhere… however the bad here is just a lot more beautiful than the crappy any where else where.
Big Aloha Brother!
See ya at the Mai Tai Fest!

That is always fun.
Weird moment, they showed "Captain America: The Winter Solider on the flight back to Kona, and I noticed that at the end of the movie the room they are having the Senate hearing with Black Widow as a witness, is in exactly the same rooms ...they question Black Widow…we're snorting and laughing...! I don't think anyone is allowed to film at the REAL Capital So they made perfect duplicate on a sound stage somewhere.

On the Plane, we both started laughing and snickering about how we were in that room…the other passengers gave us some weird looks!
Were those guys just at a Senate hearing? Wow Guess so!
Course this looked kine'a lot like something waiting 4 for us at home too! HEH! A L O H A

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Wow, my link to TC was down for a few days - I was getting Tiki Withdrawal ! I don't know if it was the Hurricanes hitting Hawaii or what! Freaky!First off, check out the Swank new Tiki out from to f the Royal Kona Resort!
Fantastic! A beautiful specimen of the "Modern Tiki" style, If you ask me, -
like all modern tiki's it has a little "cartoon-like-expression" to it.
Really well done! Great Looking!
Second off, at the Royal Kona's Resort Mai-Tai Festival, Sat, Aug 16th, I'll be selling my new Tiki Towels!
This is "Beyond the Reef" based on my painting, which was in turn is based on the Classic Exotica Tune by Martin Denny.

Hope to see you there - if you find your self in Kailua-Kona Hawaii, sat, Aug 16, at the Royal Kona Resort, teen 11AM to 2PM, come
by my booth in the Market place - I got new towels, stickers, cards, and even some Tiki-Mugs Left!

Happy Aloha Friday - Tiki Tribe!
I took an evening walk , and watched the sun set…
…and the sun made a beautiful glowing red exit beneath the curve of the big blue.
"Dragon Wrapped Tiki"
Original Pencil Drawing
SOLD - excited to hear the rumor that it's fated to become a Tattoo! Cool!
Hope I get to see photos of the finished work!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Today was the Mai-Tai Festival at the Royal Kona Resort here in Kailua-Kona Hawaii.
We had a great turn out. Our usual wonderful booth.
This year we showed our new towels and had magnets, stickers, calendars…but the big item
was the mugs - which we sold out of. A real feeding frenzy!
I got to paint in the open sea breeze coming off Kona Bay….real sweet!
We were proud to host some local V.I.P.s:
(L to R) Councilman Dru Mamo Kanuha, Councilwoman Karen Eoff, you-know-who, and Resort owner Jay Rubenstein.
I joked with the Council-folks that in the old Hawaiian days you'd be the Ali'i.
They chuckled, Karen said well, "Well Dru would be."
Later on, someone told me Councilman Dru Mamo Kanuha is an actual descendant of King Kamehameha the Great! (Yikes!)
Then, local music legend, Henry Kapono came by, with his family, and stocked up on lots of Tiki Swag!
I told Henry, "Hey, when-ever you got an album coming out, I'm happy help out with any cover Art!" He smiled and said
"Oh I think somethings in the works…" (Oh-Boy!! How Cool!)
That would mean I got to do art for the Tikiyaki Orchestra, The Crazed Mugs, and …oh…we'll keep our fingers crossed!
Check him out at http://henrykapono.com/bio.htmI suggest if U dig Hawaiian music, and Rock n' Roll, try out his amazing album "The Wild Hawaiian" - it's awesome!
http://henrykapono.com/wild-hawaiian/Lots of Tiki Tribe came by to spread ALOHA!
Big Mahalo to a certain friend and TC member for being a great Art Patron, and friend, and helping me break down the booth,
and lug all that stuff back to the TIKI X5!
He's hard core Tiki-Tribe: made the BIG move to the BIG Island!
Some of the Tiki-Tribe were well into the Mai-Tai part of the Festival by early afternoon!
But, 5-0 was on hand to keep things Pono… even got some Tiki-Swag while keeping' da' peace!
My painting "The Wanderer" received a moving tribute from the sister of the guy who the figure in the painting strangely resembles.
Big Story:
He was a local guy, everyone knew him, you always saw him on his skate, or his surf board.
In a strange turn of fate, the painting that had sat unfinished in my studio for years -
was suddenly finished when It all fell into place visually for me one day.
Later on, I found out that about that same time, the guy who has an uncanny resemblance to the figure in
the painting was surfing at a local beach & had an accident & couldn't be revived by the Paramedics.
I had just seen him the week before - I had no idea it had happened till his sister contacted me and told me
how moved she was I painted her brother's portrait - that he was truly "The Wanderer" his whole life … I was speechless
as I had no idea he had died just as I finished that piece.
Wow…
Anyways, his wife & kids, came over from Hilo, and Mary came over from Oahu - and I gave them #1 of the Giclees.
Mary draped the Giclee with a hand woven Lei she made… this was the first time they saw the piece in person and it was emotional.
I had already sold the original before I ever heard the news, or maybe I would have given her that…but no worries. I repainted the giclee slightly
giving the figure blond hair; her brother was out-side in the sun all the time... and his hair was sun-bleached. That made it resemble him
even more…….
Just another strange-tale describing the mysteries of the creative process.
Anyways…
No matter how young or old, Tiki Tribe of all ages had a blast...
...At this year's Mai-Tai fest, at this amazing, beautiful mid-century venue: The Royal Kona Resort.
http://www.royalkona.comIf you have not, you gotta' check this joint out!
It's really a classic Tiki Style Resort, being meticulously kept that way!
Did I mention they just bought another Brand New Tiki to grace their highly Tiki populated grounds? It's terrific!
(Plus, I got great parking!)
ALOHA!!

"The Wanderer" story was so very moving. I always take note of coincidences and find them fascinating. The very first photo on the last post is of this painting? I looked back several pages looking for it. I know I have seen it once before on your thread. I would like to see it again.

Had a great time hangin with you guy's at the Mai Tai Fest Brad! Thanx so much for the Tiki swag and the Luau passes, I owe you big, my friends and I had a blast at the Luau. Again, Mahalo Nui Loa Brad! You Rawk!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Hey Check this out…. I'm going to F L O R I D A ! ! (no, I'm not helping in the filming of JEEPERS CREEPERS 3) I'm going to Aku Aku Tiki-Bar, and I'm bringing the Body Glove Ohana With me!
Billy Miestrell and I will be signing BODY GLOVE TIKI MUGS!!
Yeah - the REAL rare ones! come early we only got one box each!

plus, my Art Agent, Abbas' very first EXTREME WAKE BODY GLOVE SURF FILM will be shown in the BAR!!!
Ya' gotta be there!!!!
Come and get a DVD disk signed…. we might even get the Body Glove Surf riders team to show up!!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
danlovestikis - yeah, crazy busy summer! Sorry for being so behind on my up dates. Don't even know where to start, so lets start with what I'm working on now….
It started with a conversation with my Hawaiian friend from Honolulu about some recent "Goose Bump" stories that have recently happened to him. This is Hawaii, and ghost stories and things like that happen here All the freakin' time. So With October coming up, this image became a hot item in my noodle.
I do have some commissions I'm also working on, but the season really got me in the mood to work on this one.
It's called "Hotel Honolulu Haunted Hoot N Nanny!"
This is the work of an amazing Low Brow Artist named Shawn Dickenson. "WOW!" is what I said when I saw it.
That image inspired this drawing named: "Hotel Honolulu Haunted Hoot-N-Nanny!"
Then I needed to add a "Haunt"… A "ghost-tiki" was suggested by someone, and I thought that was a GREAT idea!
This is the "Tiki-Haunt" in the hotel room.
This is a small canvas I started almost as a test - or to get this painting out fast. But popular demand on FB made me switch to a larger canvas - so for a 11" X 14" I up graded to a 24" 30"
I put the sketch on the larger canvas - note the old fashioned way I do it, just like your 6th grade teacher taught you: the grid system on the sketch and the canvas.
Here's a larger version of the "Hotel Honolulu Haunted Hoot-N-Nanny!"
Cat almost on…
Stray Cat Strutting on the canvas.
Jeepers Creepers! LOVE Shawn's work!
So... That means I respect him too much to just rip him off.
I contacted him and told him what I was doing, and how do I do it with-out ripping him off. I figure He'd have an idea, and I'd get to tell him how cool his art is. So…..found him on the web…on FB…
I Told him I ws worried about just "ripping-off" Shawn Dickinson (while loving and being inspired by him).
Talked to him about how much I loved his work, and asked him how I could paint my latest piece and not just rip him off. We chatted about my style vs his style. He said just do "it" in your style - which is also influenced by high Renaissance painting, and especially the kind coming from the north, where it was all about natural lighting coming in from windows. Dark rooms with bright windows… So follow those rules, as well as 1930's cartoon style and - do my strange / funny cat heads which after looking at our work we both noted were different than his cat heads.. Go ahead and just start painting it, and we both thought it'd turn out different seeing how our styles were so different…no idea what it would be like, but it was worth a try. Who knows hat this miss-mash is gonna come out like. He felt it'd be very different than his, and he was OK with me doing it. I felt good having his blessing to move forward. And I really liked talking to someone as talented as he is.
Ha! Weird for sure! I at this point have no idea WHAT this painting is gonna' end up looking like, but have a strange feeling in my gut about it...and that usually means "ART" is gonna' happen…. cause I'm pushing my limits again.
I'm scared.
I'm scared it may be a total disaster - scared I got no idea where it's going - and scared is a good place to be while making "Art".
Problem.
"How will people know we are in Hawaii?"
That is the major question one of my publishers on Maui always throws at me when We are making calendars and Art cards and souvenirs etc…
Answer: Make sure you put the world famous view down "Waikiki Beach" to that unforgettable view of "Diamond Head". (the extinct volcano. ) and put in the classic WAVE.
Here's the re-sketch of the hotel room with a nice view of Diamond-Head out the window.
OK, putting The Stray Cat Strutting to the Haunted Ukulele jam in the haunted hotel room in Honolulu…
Here we are now… MUCH more to come.
I Just found out my Art Agent's Time-line to get commissions done and keep up with a time-line that will allow me to do my best work for my 2016 summer show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery.
So gotta' get some canvas time in, and get this next show where I want it to be.
"Bigger and Better" than the last - that's the motto, as always.
Each canvas has to be better, have to learn something more, get a little bit better.
Big Aloha, sorry for the long summer.
Glad to be back in the Art studio making da' Tiki Art!

That was a really good story progression. I was worried as I looked at the two and you set it right. Diamond Head out the window is so cool. It kind of sets back the era since we know what really is built on the beach now. It's like time travel.

Thank you for putting these up, I know it takes time and effort and we all really enjoy watching you work and think! Wendy
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